In remote Indian village, cannabis is its only livelihood

Rishabh R. Jain

Published
3:34 pm CST, Saturday, December 3, 2016

In this Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016 photo, a marijuana bud grows in a field on a mountainside at Malana village in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Nestled deep in the higher reaches of the Indian Himalayas, Malana has become one of the world's top stoner destinations, and a symbolical battleground for India's fight against 'charas,' the black and sticky hashish that has made the village famous. While the rising demand and price of "charas" has benefited the villagers, it has also led to a slight increase in prosecutions and prompted the government to send machete-wielding police and forest personnel on long treks to destroy a small percentage of the marijuana fields. (AP Photo/Rishabh R. Jain)

In this Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016 photo, a marijuana bud grows in a field on a mountainside at Malana village in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Nestled deep in the higher reaches of the Indian

In this Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016 photo, a marijuana bud grows in a field on a mountainside at Malana village in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Nestled deep in the higher reaches of the Indian Himalayas, Malana has become one of the world's top stoner destinations, and a symbolical battleground for India's fight against 'charas,' the black and sticky hashish that has made the village famous. While the rising demand and price of "charas" has benefited the villagers, it has also led to a slight increase in prosecutions and prompted the government to send machete-wielding police and forest personnel on long treks to destroy a small percentage of the marijuana fields. (AP Photo/Rishabh R. Jain)

In this Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016 photo, a marijuana bud grows in a field on a mountainside at Malana village in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Nestled deep in the higher reaches of the Indian

In this Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2016 photo, a marijuana bud grows in a field on a mountainside at Malana village in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Nestled deep in the higher reaches of the Indian Himalayas, Malana has become one of the world's top stoner destinations, and a symbolical battleground for India's fight against 'charas,' the black and sticky hashish that has made the village famous. While the rising demand and price of "charas" has benefited the villagers, it has also led to a slight increase in prosecutions and prompted the government to send machete-wielding police and forest personnel on long treks to destroy a small percentage of the marijuana fields. (AP Photo/Rishabh R. Jain)